DIY propylene manifolds. How to make a distribution manifold for heating a house with your own hands

Owners of private houses often strive to make their homes not only more practical and efficient, but also less expensive to maintain. Relatively recently, solar collectors have become widely used, which make it possible to organize hot water supply and even heating a cottage at minimal cost. Purchasing ready-made installations is quite expensive, but at the same time, making a solar collector with your own hands is not so difficult. In this article we propose several ways to solve this problem.

At its core, this is climatic equipment that is used to produce hot water with its subsequent use in plumbing and heating systems. The principle of operation of such a system is to change the density of water during its heating, due to which the hot liquid is pushed upward.

The main difference between such systems is that natural resources are used for heating, in particular solar energy, which is absolutely free. A properly designed solar collector allows you to extract this energy even on a frosty day or in cloudy weather. Therefore, the use of such a device is possible not only in summer, but even in autumn and winter.

Solar collector device

The design of a complete solar collector system necessarily includes several basic elements - these are:

How profitable is it to have a solar collector?

The use of a solar collector, of course, will provide certain advantages - these are:

What types of solar collectors are there?

The classification of types of solar collectors is carried out according to several principles. The first one is performance. The determining criterion is the temperature that can be reached by the plates that extract the energy.

According to this principle, solar collectors are distinguished:

Depending on the form and functionality, the following design solutions are distinguished:

Depending on the type of coolant, the following devices are distinguished:

How to make a solar collector with your own hands?

Making a solar collector for heating or hot water supply is not as difficult as you might imagine. Below are several options - both the simplest designs and more complex but effective ones. Determine which one to choose yourself, based on personal requirements, the availability of a particular material and professional construction skills.

Important! The examples are listed in order of difficulty of assembly and cost of consumables.

Method 1. Hose manifold

You have probably noticed more than once, when cultivating your own plot in the summer, that if you water a flowerbed from a hose that has been lying in the sun for a long time, quite warm water will flow from it. Based on this observation, the following design was developed.

Important! This device is easy and quick to install. An excellent option for a summer residence where there is no need for high consumption of hot water. From one hose 100 m long and with a cross-section of 20 mm, you can get about 20-30 liters of ready-made hot water. If there is a need for a larger volume, you will have to use not only a storage tank, but also a circulation pump to create forced circulation of water, or make several collectors from a hose.

Assembly instructions:

If the roof slope is quite sharp, take additional steps:

Method 2. Window frame collector

Today, wooden windows are used somewhat less, but, nevertheless, many have retained the old frames when replacing them with plastic ones or new ones made of wood. This part of the window is just right for constructing a solar collector, since the frame is a ready-made box for a natural battery.

Assembly instructions:

Method 3. Plastic bottle collector

Another fairly simple design option, the cost of which is low. Its main advantage is that even during sunrise and sunset, energy is extracted, and the rays penetrate almost at an angle of 90 degrees into the bottles.

The set of materials for such a solar collector is accessible:

Assembly instructions:

Method 4. Manifold from an old refrigerator

An old refrigerator that has broken down can also come in handy. A capacitor is used from it for the solar collector, which will reduce the time for assembling the heat exchanger. The only caveat is that, since freon and oil were still circulating in it, it is advisable to use such water exclusively for technical needs, but not as drinking water.

Important! In addition to the condenser from the refrigerator, you can also use a car radiator in this system. In this case, the operating efficiency of the device will be higher.

Today, the main requirement for heating systems is their energy efficiency. The optimal heating options are considered to be connection diagrams for heating devices that provide a comfortable microclimate in the house during the winter cold, and also guarantee rational consumption of energy resources, affordable heating costs and rationality. The collector heating system of a private house, which has other advantages, fits this description. These include practicality, functionality, ease of use and reliability.

Homeowners who do not know what they are needed for should familiarize themselves with the principle of its operation before considering this device in their home heating system. Unlike the traditional heating scheme, which provides for a single coolant flow, installing a heating collector allows for more uniform heating of the building due to the distribution of flows along the circuits.

Collector functions

With the help of a collector, the system divides the total volume of coolant into several streams that circulate through different circuits. The number of circuits may vary, so when making a heating collector with your own hands, the owner provides a certain number of pipes for connecting autonomous channels. Typically, from two to twelve pipes are installed on one collector, but these parameters may vary depending on the characteristics of the system.

Collector design

The design of the device is quite simple, so if you have the tools and materials, any craftsman with minimal skills can make a heating collector with his own hands. The collector consists of two interconnected pipes with a square or round internal section. It is connected to the heating system and is also equipped with pipes. With the help of shut-off and control valves installed on the nozzles, the coolant flow in each circuit is regulated.

The design features of the collector allow you to give the system the following functional advantages:

Based on this, we can conclude that the collector is a useful and practical device that will make the heating system more stable and reliable.

The collector can be made independently and as a result you will get a device that will optimally complement the heating system of any building.

Of course, the collector heating system of a two-story house, a city apartment or a small cottage will be different, but the general principle of making a distribution comb yourself, further outlined in this article, will help owners of various types of property save money and make the collector themselves. In addition, the home owner will be able to adapt the collector to the needs of the heating system.

Preparatory work

Before you make a distribution heating manifold with your own hands, you need to stock up on tools and perform a series of calculations - determine the length of the comb, the number of heat supply circuits and the internal cross-section of the connected pipes. It is important that the design maintains hydraulic balance. To do this, you need to make sure that the throughput of the collector pipes corresponds to the sum of the same characteristics of the connected circuits. This is the key to the reliability and durability of the collector.

Correct calculation of the heating collector can be carried out independently using special programs, or using the services of heating engineers. It is worth being careful with the calculations, since their correctness will determine the correct assembly of the collector.

After making the calculations, the home owner should prepare the following components:

Also, the process of self-manufacturing a collector requires the presence of a certain tool for the job:

Material selection

Before making the first preparation, the house owner must study in detail the manifold manufacturing scheme. It contains information about the manifold material and its specifications. In this case, preference is given to durable, reliable and sustainable materials.

The material used to make the manifold must withstand constant temperature loads and high pressure in the system.

You can choose durable metal such as steel, brass, copper as the material. The owner can also choose polymers as materials and make a heating manifold from polypropylene with his own hands from pre-purchased pipes. It is worth understanding that the polymer collector has a number of features.

A do-it-yourself heating collector made from polypropylene will have the following advantages:

Metal collectors also have their own specifics. They are more durable and reliable, have a long service life and are universally applicable. Most often, when making their own, craftsmen give preference to steel pipes with a square cross-section. This material for the manifold makes it easy to connect the pipes and minimize the complexity and duration of work.

Main stages of work

To manufacture a hydraulic collector for a heating system, several stages of work will be required. At the first stage, blanks are made - the main body and pipes, which will make up the manifold for the heating system of the house. If it is not possible to make the blanks yourself - the owner does not have the necessary tools or does not have consumables on hand, he can buy ready-made components at a hardware store and then assemble a manifold from them.

At the second stage of the work, the master will assemble the blanks into a single structure. It requires the presence of a welding machine (soldering will be required when making a polypropylene manifold). If a craftsman independently solders a polypropylene manifold, then he needs to choose pipes with a reinforcing coating for the design. They will not undergo deformation when exposed to high temperatures and will provide the collector with reliability and efficiency.

The final stage of work involves checking the collector. To perform this, the device is filled with water to ensure its tightness. In addition, it is definitely worth checking the reliability of the comb under pressure - to do this, you need to fill the manufactured collector with water and create the maximum permissible pressure in it, and then analyze the strength of the welds. After the work on manufacturing the heating collector is completed, the installation diagram of the device is used by the owner to connect it to the system.

Making a solar collector - alternative heating in your home

Recently, the interest of ordinary people in renewable energy sources has increased. Because of this, many homeowners are looking to buy a home heating system that converts solar energy to heat water. But the decision to buy a solar collector for heating in a store is not always rational. The cost of the finished device is far from budget, so such a purchase can hit the family budget hard.

To avoid expenses, you can make a solar vacuum collector for heating yourself. Various solar collectors for home heating, reviews of which are positive, have the following design details:

The materials from which the collector can be made are very diverse. There are known technologies for the independent production of solar collectors from polypropylene, ordinary garden hoses, window frames, plastic bottles, old refrigeration units and other available materials. The collector assembly diagram directly depends on the type of material chosen, so it is worth studying after the owner has decided on the concept of the collector.

Self-made vacuum solar collectors for home heating, the price of which in the store is $200 or more, can be used as full-fledged heating sources.

Vacuum solar collectors have a number of advantages:

1. energy efficiency;
2. environmental friendliness;
3. autonomy;
4. availability.

It is not difficult to make traditional distribution or solar collectors for home heating with your own hands. This does not require large material costs, the availability of complex technological equipment and solid experience. However, these homemade devices will greatly optimize the heating system of the house and help the owner create a reliable, efficient and uniform source of heating for his home.

In a typical city apartment, we are used to seeing a simple and unpretentious scheme for connecting plumbing fixtures: a pair of valves with or without filters comes from the risers, and from them pipes are teeed with tees to the toilet bowl and faucets.

However, sometimes another type of wiring can be used - collector. Let's figure out what it is and what great benefits it has.

feel the difference

First, we will give clear and precise definitions of the main types of wiring.

• Tee(series) circuit. All plumbing fixtures are connected to one pipe through tees. At the same time, nothing prevents in front of each of them to put shut-off valves specifically for it.

• Collector. Shut-off valves are concentrated on entering an apartment, house or anywhere else.
  The key difference is that all the valves are nearby and from them to each device, whether it is a toilet, a mixer or a radiator, there is an independent pipe or a pair of pipes.

• Mixed. A mix of both options. For example, a washbasin and a shower located in different directions have a collector and independent pipelines, and a common tee stands on a toilet bowl, a bidet and a washing machine standing near the riser.

Please note: collector wiring is used not only for plumbing or heating on the scale of a separate apartment.

The entire sewer system of a block or microdistrict also drains wastewater into the sewer.

Although within a block, sewer systems can be consistent: when laying pipes underground, builders try to save within reason.

Bonuses and costs

Flaws

Let's start with the other side of the coin. Why is collector wiring bad? Why don't we see it in every apartment?

The secret is generally simple: it requires more materials and work. If the shower and washbasin are next to each other, five meters of pipes will be required for their connection with a serial scheme, and eight meters with a collector. The combs themselves (stop valves for several consumers, mounted together for ease of installation) are also expensive.

In addition, if it is not accompanied by a global renovation in the apartment, there is a big difference between two pipes running along the wall and, say, six.

Tip: collector wiring is more often used, however, during the Big Repair, when the pipes are laid in a screed or hidden under decorative boxes on the walls.

As we will see later, a collector circuit will come in very handy here.

Advantages

And now we have finally reached the quintessence of the article: how many benefits and benefits a collector can bring in a heating or water supply system.

• All plumbing fixtures can be turned off and on from a single center. "So what?" - a resident of a city apartment, in which the distance from the riser to the distant mixer does not exceed two meters, will shrug.
  My friend, in addition to the layout you are used to, there are also mini-hotels, guest rooms, offices, and so on and so forth. Imagine that you saw a puddle crawling out from under the guests' door. And they themselves, along with the keys to this door, are away. Y?
• IN easy and convenient adjustment of pipe patency is possible for each device separately. You can press the throttle on the battery, which does not need to heat up so much in the warm spring: when it warms up, we are increasingly paying by the meter!
  You can limit the water consumption in the washbasin, which is used by children prone to pranks. Why do we need puddles on the floor and extra spilled water, for which we again pay?

Centralized Control Panel is convenient

• In the case of plumbing, with proper collector wiring, the “bottleneck effect” is eliminated: when someone in the household flushes the toilet, you won’t be scalded with boiling water in the shower.
• Finally, the main advantage. Where do pipes most often leak? That's right, on the connections. Any experienced plumber will confirm: modern materials leak in the middle of the pipe only after sophisticated and lengthy abuse, such as repeated defrosting or driving a tractor through the pipe. Crawler.
  So, collector wiring allows you to lay a straight pipe from the collector to any device without connections. And then hide it under a screed or drywall, without fear of the consequences.

Implementation

There are few subtleties here, but they are there.

Heating

Pipes to heating devices will be of different lengths. This is an axiom.

Even modern pipes made of smooth plastics have a certain hydraulic resistance, directly proportional to the length of the pipe. No one has canceled the heat loss in the pipeline.

If so, then in order to equalize the temperature of the radiators, we will need to adjust (balance) the heating system. Therefore, let's forget about conventional valves and install a pair of chokes on each heating device.

In pairs - so that you can not only slow down the circulation, but also completely cut off the heating device. A combination of a throttle and a ball valve is also an option.

Water supply

To avoid the notorious boiling water in the shower when another tap is open or the tank is filled, you need a certain ratio of pipe diameters. If the wiring to the washbasin, shower and tank is made with a half-inch pipe, then the connection to the collector or the section from the riser should be one step thicker.

There is no need for twice the diameter: the permeability of the pipe is proportional to the square of its diameter. If it became larger by a quarter, the cross-country ability increased by more than one and a half times.

It is better to install a common filter, before the collector. Hydrodynamics and cross-country ability have nothing to do with it - it’s easier to maintain the water supply. Of course, you will need a diameter no smaller than that of the input. The filter can also become a bottleneck.

Finally: in the case of welded polyethylene or polypropylene, correctly made connections are not inferior in strength and reliability to a solid pipe. They can be safely laid in a screed.

Tip: Just remember about thermal expansion. made of reinforced polypropylene.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are few difficulties here, but the benefits are great. Don’t forget that when manifolding, you save on tees, which in the case of metal-plastic are much more expensive than several additional linear meters of pipe. However, of course, it's up to you to decide. Good luck with the renovation!

In many garden plots you can see the so-called summer shower. Its design is quite simple - a small container located on the building is filled with water. As it is exposed to sunlight, it heats up to the desired temperature. But it is not always convenient to wait several hours until the water is at an acceptable temperature. Therefore, this design is often slightly modified by adding a solar collector to it.

It is a panel containing a network of pipelines inside. On the inside there is insulation (to reduce heat loss), and on the outside there is protective glass. It also performs another function - it creates a greenhouse effect inside the collector. Under the influence of sunlight, the water in the tubes heats up, and protective layers minimize energy loss.

To manufacture a device according to a similar scheme, you will need special tools, significant financial costs and a large amount of work. Therefore, “traditional craftsmen” developed an alternative model made of cellular polycarbonate. Its specificity lies in the use of cavities instead of copper tubes. If you properly ensure the supply of water to the cavity and its further intake for use, then such a design can replace expensive factory models.

How to make a polycarbonate solar collector with your own hands and what is required for this? Before you begin developing your fabrication plan, there are a number of important differences and limitations for this solar installation model.

• Minimum water pressure. The connection between polycarbonate and PVC pipes will be made using hot-melt adhesive, which cannot provide the required level of reliability. Therefore, the operation of a pumping station or connection to a central water supply is excluded.
• Such a collector is much lighter than factory models (their types and capabilities), which makes it possible to install it directly on an outdoor shower or the roof of a house.

Knowing these nuances, you can begin production.

Required materials and tools

To complete the work you will need the following consumables:

Polycarbonate sheets

You need to choose models with honeycombs in which the water will be heated. Standard sheet dimensions are 12000*1000 mm. It is best to make a design with overall dimensions of 2000 * 1000. Those. for this you will need two blanks - in one of them the water will be heated, and the second will serve as external protection.

The useful volume of the collector will depend on the size of the honeycomb. Sheets with a thickness of 4 to 8 mm are considered optimal. For them, the volume of liquid per 1 m² will be 35 and 80 liters, respectively. With the selected dimensions, its weight when filled will be optimal.

PVC pipes, flexible hoses and fittings

A PVC pipe (32 mm) with a threaded connection is considered optimal. Its length should be 2050 mm (50 mm for connection). Fittings and flexible hoses are necessary to connect the collector to the water supply and intake system.

Drywall frame profile and foam sheets

Surface treatment is carried out with an angle grinder (grinder), the connection of individual elements is carried out using hot-melt adhesive.

Procedure

Before performing work, it is important to correctly navigate the location of the cells. They should run horizontally, which will ensure uniform heating of the water. First you need to make longitudinal cuts in the pipes. To do this, they are fixed with clamps. It is necessary to ensure the cut lines are as straight as possible, for which a special circular saw for an angle grinder with small teeth is used.

Today, when energy resources are so expensive, many are looking for the opportunity to use alternative sources so that they can reduce their gas or electricity bills. One option is to make equipment that can convert the sun's energy into heat.

Initially, glass was used to manufacture such devices, but, as practice has shown, a solar collector made of cellular polycarbonate has much better characteristics than its glass counterpart. Having almost the same transparency as glass, polycarbonate is much lighter, so you can mount such installations anywhere without worrying that their presence will be too heavy for the placement surface. In addition, polycarbonate panels are much stronger than glass and even ordinary hail cannot damage them, so products made from modern material are considered much stronger.

Types of collectors

Solar collector installations come in panel types, which are called flat because of their shape, and vacuum, otherwise known as tubular. Panel manifolds made of polycarbonate are much cheaper, but if you make them yourself, they can become even more affordable. But, panel structures are intended for use only in summer for heating water, and their use in winter is completely excluded.

It takes a lot more money to make vacuum models, but the money invested will soon pay off, since they can be used throughout the year. In addition, vacuum units are more than twice as productive as panel analogs, which is why even at sub-zero temperatures they can heat water inside the systems.

Necessary materials

For the manufacture of a homemade polycarbonate collector, only honeycomb panels are used, since they have high thermal insulation properties. Acceptable sheet thickness is from 4 to 30 mm. This figure depends on the number of people living in the house. For example, for a family of two adults and two children, a material of 4-10 mm thickness will suffice. In this case, you will need sheets of different sizes. One should have the same dimensions as the box, and the second is a little smaller, it should fit inside the box so that there are gaps of the desired size. In addition, you will need:

1. Two threaded rods.
2. Propylene fitting corners. It is necessary that they have metal threads.
3. Two PVC water pipes, the length of which should be one and a half meters, and the diameter should be 32 mm.
4. 2 plugs for the above pipes.

Manifold assembly

It is not difficult to assemble a polycarbonate solar collector with your own hands, if you know some of the subtleties and sequence of work.

So, first you need to make a longitudinal cut in the pipes, later a polycarbonate sheet will be inserted into them. Water will rise from below into the grooves of the sheet, where it will warm up due to the effect of the thermosyphon, after which it will rise and be discharged through the upper pipe into the accumulator. Therefore, when installing a polycarbonate panel into a pipe, care must be taken that it is not placed too deep, this will prevent the circulation of the heated liquid. It is undesirable to expand the cut: the tension in the pipe will contribute to its stronger fixation, but if a slight adjustment is needed, then this is quite acceptable.

Good to know: To improve the adhesion of the solar collector panel made of polycarbonate and sealant, when building a structure with your own hands, before installing the sheet into the pipe, you need to treat its edge with sandpaper, and then degrease it.

Then - seal the joints between the surface and the pipe. There is no point in saving when buying sealant; the quality of the entire system depends on its quality.

After this, the corners with metal threads are attached to the ends of the pipes using hot-melt adhesive. During operation, they will facilitate the process of turning off and turning on the installation. Simply painting the surface of the collector will help increase the level of heat absorption from the sun.

You need to begin work on installing a solar collector by installing a polystyrene foam sheet using glue or foam on the surface of the rear wall of the frame structure, and then proceed with the installation of the installation. To do this, you need to attach the clamps made of plastic or metal connecting the collector to the foam plastic as efficiently as possible. After this, you need to attach a polycarbonate sheet to the front side with self-tapping screws.

Scheme of work

In the attic of a house or other building that requires warm water, you need to install a storage tank with a volume of about 160 liters, which must be insulated. Now you need to connect the heated water extraction system to the tank. To do this, you do not need to create additional pressure - everything happens by gravity, but for cold water you need to install a pump that will supply it from a well or well.

On a note: In order for water to circulate freely, the solar collector made of polycarbonate must be installed so that its surface height is at the same level as the tank, then the heated water will naturally be replaced by cold water.

It is for this purpose that the hot water supply tube is attached slightly above the midpoint of the storage tank, due to which hot water accumulates in its upper part.

If for some reason there is no longer enough hot water, you can increase its quantity. It’s quite simple to mount another collector on the other side of the roof. According to those who already use such installations, these are economical, environmentally friendly and energy-independent systems that completely pay for themselves in 3-4 years, and since they can last at least 10 years, the benefits of such a design are obvious.

Video about the collector